Brown took over Sydney at a politically difficult time

THE retiring vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, Gavin
Brown, did not choose the time to occupy the top seat of the oldest
university in Australia.

Professor Brown moved into the chair in July 1996, four months
after a conservative government was elected in Canberra, and his
tenure mirrored that of the former prime minister, John Howard,
almost exactly.

"I suppose technically I've been in office longer than him,"
Professor Brown said. "But I chose when to go."

The added mischief at the expense of his former master is almost
irresistible for Professor Brown, condemned as he was to spending
his entire term struggling to do more with less.

Under the Howard government, higher education suffered
successive funding cuts and universities were forced hugely to
expand their proportion of fee-paying international students.

"It was hard, especially in the beginning. [Government
sentiment] was hostile to universities and, at the same time, this
university had a period where it could fairly be accused of being a
bit complacent, so it was really not performing at the level that
it should," Professor Brown said.

But the university still moved up international league tables
and is now the richest in the country and one of the largest, with
student numbers more than doubling to 47,000.

At the same time, the number of academic staff has risen only 14
per cent, a factor he regards as one of his achievements, although
its impact on staff-to-student ratios might give the opposite
impression.

The vice-chancellor designate, Michael Spence, is moving from
Oxford.

Professor Brown leaves his post next month and will take up a
position as head of a new science communication organisation, the
Royal Institute of Australia, in August, where he will turn his
mind to communicating and sharing ideas about science.